


Letter

by pyromanicofthesea



Series: A Pridecember Winter Wonderland [13]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyromanicofthesea/pseuds/pyromanicofthesea
Summary: Wracked with grief, Kaiba turns to letter-sending to ease the empty feeling left by Atem's cross-over.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto
Series: A Pridecember Winter Wonderland [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055513
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	Letter

Kaiba was not one for witchcraft or magicks. He knew of it, he conspired with practitioners in the past, but he would not personally touch the craft with a ten foot pole. The risks involved with powerful spells, rituals, and charms outweighed the benefits in his mind far too much. But grief is a fickle emotion. Grief cares not for the balancing act of risks and rewards.

Kaiba was lucky the closest spellcaster to him was a caster of white magic.

Ryou showed Kaiba the mailing ritual almost immediately after Kaiba showed up on his doorstep, in less than perfect mind, demanding to know ways of contacting the afterlife. It was simple really. Write a letter to the one you're seeking. Address them by name and write with feeling. Seal the letter in an envelope, tell it to find safe passage to its receiver, and set it to a flame until the letter was nothing but ash.

He wrote to Atem that night, using the most colorful language he knew, disparaging on how Atem dared to abandon him without a goodbye. He told the letter and the empty bathroom that he would personally erase anything that stood in this letter's way during its transit, and then burned the letter to a crisp in the bathroom sink.

His second letter was far kinder, though he gave no apology in regards to the first letter he had sent. The letter after that was business as usual, and Kaiba wrote yearning for a duel.

He bought special stationary after that. Every packet of paper had patterns and colors he thought Atem would like. He bought nice pens too, at the suggestion of Anzu, who wrote all her school notes in a color code and often had at least three different colored pens in her bag at any given time. Basic pens felt too meaningless, so Kaiba bought top line fountain pens and colored inks. It took time to learn how to shift the weight in his grip for the best penmanship. The effort felt worth it knowing he gave only the best to Atem.

What started as a nice thought with the stationary and pens turned into a small collection of decorative stationary, colored papers for hand-folding envelopes, fountain pens and colored inks, patterned sealing tape that Kaiba thought would make Atem smile, and alcohol markers to decorate the outside of the letter's envelope. Kaiba would never admit it, but he took a liking to drawing silly doodles in the empty spaces of his letters and their envelopes. It was a guilty pleasure, known only by Atem and himself, since the letters were promptly burned to be sent off once he sealed them with patterned tape.

The letters were written at odd intervals, whenever the mood struck him. Some were obsessive, some were pining, some were joyous or sorrowful, and some sounded like writings to a lover abroad. Each one was sent off with the same whispered confession. 'I miss you'.

Atem received every one of them, and cherished them. Each letter - even the unsavory ones - were kept in a gilded container on his dresser with the intent of reminding him of Kaiba every morning. Every time he received a letter, it brightened his day just to know Kaiba was still alive and as grouchy as ever.

Until one day he received a letter from Ryou, stating Kaiba had fallen ill.

Atem prayed to the gods for Kaiba's swift recovery, knowing the sickness would not be worth a lone letter if it were not serious. He spent three days in prayer. He gave every offering he could think of to win the favors of the gods with influence in such matters. Atem wished he could write back to Kaiba, to wish him well, to say anything that may be of comfort, to let him know every letter made it to him safely, to tell him he'd wait a lifetime. He felt so useless upon his throne while Kaiba was sick.

He felt even more restless when days turn into weeks turn into months without a single letter.

And then several letters arrive, all at once, none from the person he wanted a letter from, and all saying essentially the same thing. Yugi's was the shortest by far, and haunted him with dread the most.

_Please take care of him, aibou._

Atem cried, clutching the letter, and could not be consoled for the rest of the day. He could think of only the worst. That Kaiba died alone or in pain, even though rationally he knew the others would be with him no matter how much he tried to turn them away. His friends were like that, and Kaiba was one of the group whether he wanted to be or not, and Mokuba would look out for his brother at the very least. But none of that meant a thing as Atem soaked his pillow in tears, his heart an aching stone within the confines of his chest.

The pain only worsened as days went on with no sign of Kaiba in the kingdom. He feared the worst once more, that somehow Kaiba succumbed on his journey to his weighing, or his heart was too heavy, or he was buried improperly and never had the chance. Atem's restlessness put the entire palace on edge.

The waiting felt like an eternity in and of itself.

At the beginning of the flood season, Kaiba walked into the palace with his usual bravado, only to be tackled to the ground by Atem's gold-adorned form. Kaiba was about to shove him away and tell him off for knocking him down, when he felt Atem trembling. He wrapped his arms around Atem, hugging him close and burying his face in Atem's spiked hair.

"It's okay, Atem." He was going to say more, but his words died in his throat when Atem looked up at him with tear-reddened eyes and sob-blotched cheeks.

"I feared I'd never see you again," Atem said between sniffles. "You took so long."

Emotions Kaiba hadn't felt in ages welled up in his chest, and he hugged Atem tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."

**Author's Note:**

> And then they dueled happily ever after, the end c:
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


End file.
